Chaos Returned
by MJRD
Summary: Gundam Wing/Ranam1/2: Warnings: shonen-ai. In 199 AC a new underground organization is forming. The Preventers' best team is put on the job of stopping this new threat with the help of a new team member.
1. Chapter 1a

Title: Chaos Returned   
Author: MJRD   
Rating: PG-13 for now   
Feedback: Please! C&C craved: meghan@zizania.org   
Disclaimer: Not mine, both Ranma ½ and Gundam belong to people with more talent and money (and lawyers) than me. This is being written for fun, to get over writer's block and with the possibility of entertaining a few people.   
~~~~~   
NOTE: This is set in 199 AC, about two years after the events in Endless Waltz. All five of the pilots are working for the Preventers. The Ranma timeline is the same as canon (manga) except for happening in the GW universe: knowledge if the colonies, slightly higher tech level. Genma and Ranma arrived in Nerima in 194 AC. The fight with Saffron occurred shortly after the formation of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation. The GW pilots are about 19 years old, while Ranma is 20. The age difference and passage of time would change behavior patterns somewhat; some characters have matured (I don't think that really counts as OOC)   
~~~~~

Duo flipped through the pages again, then slumped forward, knocking his forehead against his desk. "This just doesn't make sense," he grumbled into the desktop. He banged his head against the desk again in frustration.

Heero didn't even look up from his computer as he commented, "If you break your keyboard again, baka, I'm not fixing it." Then, almost as an afterthought, "What doesn't make sense?"

The braided ex-pilot just slouched forward more and turned his head to level a violet glare at his partner's back. "That was not my fault. Anyway, have you had a chance to read the report on the follow up to the stakeout we did last week?"

Heero half turned in his chair, glancing over at Duo's sprawled out form. "No, did it come in this morning?"

"Yeah, here." Duo sat up and spun his chair, thrusting the sheaf of paper he had been flipping through at the cobalt-eyed boy. As Heero leafed through the report Duo fidgeted, all but bouncing in his seat. Heero reached the end of the report, then flipped back a few pages to reread a segment, a small frown creasing his brow.

"You are right," Heero said as he went over the last few pages again. "This does not make sense."

"Gah! Of course, the one time . . ." Duo threw up his arms in defeat, startling the smaller blond who had just walked into the office. "Oops, sorry, Kat," he apologized with a grin.

Quatre merely raised an eyebrow at his exuberant friend. "The one time what, Duo?"

"The one time that Heero admits I'm right is the one time I want him to call me 'baka' and point out something obvious that I'm missing." Duo stuck his tongue out at his stoic partner, then grinned. "But, since I was right, we're probably going to get a summons from the Lady."

With a slight grimace Quatre admitted, "That is actually why I'm here. Trowa and Wufei have been called in, too."

Heero looked up, "On their day off? Wufei is not going to be happy."

Quatre glanced over at Heero. "Neither of them is going to be thrilled about it."

"No kidding," Duo called over his shoulder as he disappeared out the door, "but 'Fei is going to be a hell of a lot more vocal about it." The others exchanged a look and shook their heads as Duo stuck his head back around the corner. "You coming? I, for one, want to find out what this mess is all about."

~*~*~

" . . . and there better be a damned good reason for dragging us in here in our day off!"

Lady Une sat at her desk, hands folded, watching the irate teen storm around her office. His rant seemed to have died down, for the moment at least. She glanced at the other boy, who was sitting calmly, his visible eye following the pacing figure with an almost amused expression.

Duo burst into the room with his typical manic grin firmly in place and called over his shoulder, "Hey guys, it looks like we missed the rant." Heero and Quatre entered the room behind the braided boy at a more sedate pace.

"Can't you simply walk into a room, Duo?" Wufei grumbled.

Duo seemed to ponder this for a moment, "Nah, where's the fun in that?" He turned to Une, "So, what is actually going on? If this is another attempt at world domination, I'll scream."

Lady Une sighed and gestured for them to find seats. "Nothing that simple this time. It turns out that several of the smaller groups we have been monitoring are all part of a larger underground organization. Our contacts in the yakuza, triads, and mob all seem to be incredibly wary of these guys."

The boys all stared at her, startled. Wufei shook his head. "I'd rather deal with the world domination."

"The _triads_ are scared of these guys?" asked Duo. Une nodded as he continued, "What are they doing that the triads haven't?"

"That is what worries us, we don't know for sure. There is the usual list that we can confirm involvement with: drug labs, prostitution rings, money laundering, extortion, arms manufacture and distribution. The drugs seem to be fairly mainstream so far. The latest intelligence is what is unnerving: one of our operatives just brought something back that leads us to believe they might be tampering with human genetics."

Quatre blinked, then summed up what they were all feeling, "I agree with Wufei's earlier sentiment."

"That's why I'm asking you to deal with this case. You five are my best team." She held out a stack of folders and Wufei, being the nearest, took it. "I'm assigning someone else to work with you on this, his background should be helpful."

The former pilots exchanged looks and Wufei glanced down at the top folder. He didn't recognize the name. "You're assigning a _rookie_ to work with us on this?"

"I'd hardly call myself a rookie," an amused voice commented.

The five spun to find a young man of obvious Japanese descent leaning against the wall, not five feet from Quatre. Bright blue eyes tracked their every movement. Before the boys could fully react Une's voice rang out, "Stand down!" freezing them, Heero's gun already in his hand.

Une sighed and looked over at the dark-haired youth. "Ran, I really wish you wouldn't do that."


	2. Chapter 1b

Title: Chaos Returned: Chapter 1b   
Author: MJRD   
Rating: PG-13 for now   
Feedback: Please! C&C craved: meghan@zizania.org   
Disclaimer: Not mine, both Ranma ½ and Gundam belong to people with more talent and money (and lawyers) than me. This is being written for fun, to get over writer's block and with the possibility of entertaining a few people.   
~~~~~   
NOTE: This is set in 199 AC, about two years after the events in Endless Waltz. All five of the pilots are working for the Preventers. The Ranma timeline is the same as canon (manga) except for happening in the GW universe: knowledge of the colonies, slightly higher tech level. Genma and Ranma arrived in Nerima in 194 AC. The fight with Saffron occurred shortly after the formation of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation. The GW pilots are about 19 years old, while Ranma is 20. The age difference and passage of time would change behavior patterns somewhat; some characters have matured (I don't think that really counts as OOC)   
~~~~~

Wufei glanced down at the top folder. He didn't recognize the name. "You're assigning a _rookie_ to work with us on this?"

"I'd hardly call myself a rookie," an amused voice commented.

The five spun to find a young man of obvious Japanese descent leaning against the wall, not five feet from Quatre. Bright blue eyes tracked their every movement. Before the boys could fully react Une's voice rang out, "Stand down!" freezing them, Heero's gun already in his hand.

Une sighed and looked over at the dark-haired youth. "Ran, I really wish you wouldn't do that."

He shrugged, unperturbed. "Would you rather that I announce my presence to the whole building?"

She shook her head, giving up on what was obviously an old argument. "How long have you been here?"

"Since an attempt at world domination became the preferable option," he answered, nodding at Wufei.

Five pairs of eyes flashed back and forth between their commander and the newcomer. The tension in the room was somewhat relived when Duo yelped, "How the hell did you do that?"

A muttered 'baka' came from Heero direction as his gun disappeared again. The boy that Une had called Ran watched this process with interest before answering, "Practice, lots of it."

Wufei watched with narrowed eyes. "I take it that you are our new teammate?"

Ran nodded as Une cleared her throat. "This is Morisato Ranma. He has a working knowledge of this case that, along with his specialties, should help you out with the investigation. Ran, I believe you recognize everybody." The youth nodded again.

Trowa looked up from the file he had taken from his partner. "Stealth, demolitions, and hand-to-hand combat?"

Ranma made a face. "Martial Arts. I still don't get why they say it that way."

Wufei regarded him with a raised eyebrow. "What form do you practice?"

"Forms. I'm the equivalent of master rank in several and grand master of Ganso Musabetsu Kakutou Ryuu."(1) He said the last with a cocky grin that didn't quite hide the slightly wistful expression in his eyes.

Wufei's other eyebrow rose to join the first. "We will have to spar sometime."

"Great!" responded Ranma, eyes lighting up and grin widening. "I haven't had a real spar in too long."

Lady Une's expression was a cross between amusement and annoyance. "Now that you've got that out of the way . . ." The ringing of her vid phone interrupted her. "Yes?"

Everyone could hear Sally's worried voice on the other end. "Do you have any idea where Ran is? He still hasn't come to see me after that last mission and he isn't answering the phone at his place." All eyes in the room turned to the person in question, whose hand went behind his head in a habitual gesture of nervousness.

"Umm, hi, Sally." He gave the screen a sheepish smile as he stepped into view behind Une, flicking his ponytail back over his shoulder. 

"Just where have you been? The report said you'd been injured!"

Ranma tried to interrupt, "I'm fine . . ." but the medic just ignored him.

"I want you down here now, mister," Sally finished.

The beleaguered boy glanced over at Une, who simply raised an eyebrow. He sighed, "Fine, just give me five minutes."

"Just get your rear down here." Sally signed off.

Another pleading look was sent at his commander as Ranma spoke. "There's some more stuff you guys are gonna have to know if we're gonna work together. Would you be willing to meet me in 'bout an hour?"

There were five hesitant nods as the boy turned to face Une again. "Give them directions to my place?" He fished in the pocket of his jeans for a moment, then handed her a key. "It's still raining out," he told her, a seeming non-sequitur. 

She nodded as she accepted the key. "Now get out of here before Sally calls again."

All eyes followed the boy as he literally disappeared out the door. Heero was the first to speak. "He was the one who brought back the newest information on the case."

Une nodded even though it wasn't really a question. Quatre's soft voice was the next to break the silence. "Why haven't any of us heard of him before? Between us, we know everybody in the Preventers."

Une sighed and looked at her hands for a moment. "This all started just shortly after the Preventers were formed." She looked up. "Up until this point the only people who knew of Ran's existence were Sally and myself."

"So why are you putting him on a case with us now?" Duo asked.

Lady Une gave a small smile. "Actually, it's the other way around: I'm putting you on the case with him. He has been involved with this set of cases for over a year." She held up a hand, forestalling more questions for the moment. "I realize that you must have a lot of questions about him, but I feel it would be best if he were the one to answer them."

She paused and looked at each of them. "I just ask that you give him a chance to explain before you make any judgments. Ran had a very . . . strange life before he joined the Preventers." A sad smile crossed her lips. "Ran just chalks it up to an old Chinese curse."

Wufei blinked. "'May you live in interesting times'? And I would assume that you are referring to more than the 'interesting times' we have all lived through."

Une nodded. "Do you have any other questions now? There are some detail of the case that I want to cover and I want you to have time to go over those files." She gestured to the folders that Wufei still held.

With a slight frown Trowa nodded and held out the paper he was holding. "This mentions psychiatric counseling – is there anything that we should know about?"

With a blank face she started to explain, "Ran had an extreme phobia due to an incident during his childhood." Une's hands had clenched into fists; she stopped and visibly forced herself to relax. "Thankfully, Sally and a few others were able to help him deal with it before anything disastrous happened."

Quatre's eyes widened at the suppressed anger radiating from Une. "This is one of the issues you want us to hear from him, isn't it?"

Une nodded again. "Ran has a unique view of the world; you should hear his story from him first." She forced a small smile. "Without my opinions getting in the way."

As no other questions seemed to be forthcoming, Une started the briefing. "As I mentioned earlier, this group has their fingers in many different areas: drug labs, prostitution rings, money laundering, extortion, arms manufacture/distribution, and some type of unknown experimentation on humans. We are not sure whether these operations are functioning semi-independently or if there are joint endeavors between the different branches. 

"These operations span the entire globe, centralizing in North America, Central Europe, and Japan. As far as we can tell, there are no major operations in the colonies yet. We have been unable to get any leads on who is running things, be it a group or an individual. All available information points to operatives in high levels of the government. There is even the possibility that we have a leak in the department. In light of this information this assignment is completely undercover; if anybody asks the five of you are on leave. The only people to know that you are working on this case are Sally and myself.

"There are more details in the files, but there are a few things I would like to bring to your attention now. We do know that they are developing heavy weaponry, possibly mobile suits. That was another reason you were brought onto this case; you are the most likely to be able to deal with things if it is confirmed.

"The other issue of main concern is the experimentation. We know very little beyond the fact that they are doing something that unnerves the other underground elements. Some of our contacts may know more; I will look into finding out more from that end. From the little information that has been gathered it seems that participation in these experiments is not on a voluntary basis; we don't even know what the survival rate is."

All five of the young men stared at Une for a moment after she finished. There was a collective blink when it was obvious that there was no more information forthcoming. 

Not surprisingly, Duo was the first to break the silence that had descended on the room. "Is there any chance that the curse you mentioned earlier is contagious? 'Cause it sure sounds like the times are about to get pretty interesting."

~~~~~   
(1) Original Indiscriminate Hand-to-hand Style (also called Anything Goes Martial Arts)   
~~~~~

Authors Notes: Only got a few things this time around: big thanks to my beta reader, X-parrot, she is the one that is keeping this coherent ^_^ If you want to know the pairings that will come up e-mail me otherwise wait ^_~ And finally I plead, beg, whatever for C&C. This will be continued whether or not I get it but it may come out faster with responses ^_^


	3. Chapter 2a

Title: Chaos Returned: Chapter 2a   
Author: MJRD   
Rating: PG-13 for now   
Feedback: Please! C&C craved: meghan@zizania.org   
Archive: Eclectic Unlimited   
Fanfiction.net - MJRD   
Disclaimer: I own neither Gundam Wing nor Ranma ½. It is said that imitation is the highest form of flattery; that is the intention of this. No copyright infringement intended.   
~~~~~   
NOTE: This is set in 199 AC, about two years after the events in Endless Waltz. All five of the pilots are working for the Preventers. The Ranma timeline is the same as canon (manga) except for happening in the GW universe: knowledge of the colonies, slightly higher tech level. Genma and Ranma arrived in Nerima in 194 AC. The fight with Saffron occurred shortly after the formation of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation. The GW pilots are about 19 years old, while Ranma is 20. The age difference and passage of time would change behavior patterns somewhat; some characters have matured (I don't think that really counts as OOC)   
~~~~~

The short walk to the apartment had been made in relative silence. After a moments confusion upon their arrival they had been sent around back by a cheerful young woman who had been arranging some flower pots in front of the 'Akai Kouma' (1)

Duo whistled and pushed his wet bangs out of his face as they entered the second story apartment. "Nice place . . ."

"Duo, move. The rest of us would like to get out of the rain as well," Wufei grumbled from the small porch. 

The braided boy grinned as he moved further into the kitchen. "Sorry, 'Fei." He bounced around the apartment as the others sorted themselves out. The full kitchen gave way to a living area/study, while a bedroom was separated from the rest by a traditional Japanese screen. "Not bad, doesn't look like a bachelor pad - wonder if he has a girlfriend or something."

Heero rolled his eyes as he looked over at Duo, who was poking at the contents of a bookshelf, then glanced down at the kitchen table. "I doubt it." He held out a blueprint that had been lying amongst books on the table. 

Trowa looked over Heero's shoulder at the blueprint. "That looks like the place where you guys did the stakeout about a week ago." Heero nodded, then spun around at the sound of a door closing.

A petit young woman stood near the entrance in the kitchen, the water dripping from her ponytail onto the floor the only noise in the suddenly quiet apartment. She raised an eyebrow at the five young men staring at her and muttered to herself, "I can't believe that Sally talked me into this."

After placing the bag she had been carrying on the counter, the young woman turned to face the ex-pilots again. "Hi, I'm Morisato Ranma. Sorry 'bout this." Her right hand went behind her head in a familiar nervous gesture. 

Heero glared at the girl. "Ranma is male." His gun had appeared in his hand again.

"I told Sally this wasn't going to work," She rolled her eyes and muttered, then took a deep breath. "Just give me a moment to explain, would you? I told you that there were a few things that you needed to know about me before I left - this is one of them." 

Duo looked the girl over. _She could be Ran's twin: same hair, same eyes, both drop-dead gorgeous. They also move the same way, have similar expressions, same taste in cloths - wait a sec . . . that's the outfit Ran was wearing earlier, it's too big on her. This is beyond weird. _ The irritated look on her face lessened somewhat when Duo spoke up. "We told Une we'd give him, err . . . her, uh . . . Ran a chance to explain things before we made any judgments, remember?" 

Heero glanced over at his partner with a slightly puzzled expression, then nodded. The gun was no longer aimed at the young woman but was still out, signaling his continued mistrust. 

The girl sighed again. "Could you, please, put that thing away? I promise that I won't do anything to threaten any of you!" 

With a final glare and a glance at Quatre, who simply looked confused, Heero made the gun disappear once again, bright blue eyes tracking the movement with interest. 

"Okay, why don't you go take a seat and I'll try to explain this mess." She gestured toward the couch and the living area. "Just give me one moment."

The five boys exchanged a look, then headed over to the area indicated. Wufei glanced over at Duo as they found seats. "Why did you defend her - she can't be the guy we met earlier."

Duo shrugged. "Not quite sure myself, but we did promise Une and there is something _weird_ going on here. She looks like she could be Ran's twin, and she is wearing the same clothes that he was earlier - I doubt that she managed to mug and strip him. And she knew what Ran had told us before he left. There has to be some way to explain this!"

"There is . . . but you may not want to believe it." The group jumped at the sound of the voice and turned to see the male Ranma standing next to the couch with two glasses of water in his hands. He walked over to the coffee table and set the glasses down before turning to face the group. With a sigh, he asked, "Did Une mention my curse at all?"

Wufei looked up at him with an expression of distrust. "She mentioned that you blamed a lot of what happened to you on the old Chinese curse 'May you live in interesting times.'" 

Ranma blinked. "Well that one too, but that is not the one I'm normally talking about."

Duo gawked. "So, just how many curses do you have, then?"

A thoughtful look crossed Ranma's face. "Umm, well, there was the Dragon Whisker, the Nekoken, the fiancée thing, and I suppose the whole water magnet bit could have counted. But I think it's down to just the two now."

There were several blinks, and then Ranma shook his head. "I guess I should just show you - you won't believe it otherwise." He picked up one of the glasses. "Cold water."

With that he dumped the contents over his head. Duo's eyes widened as he watched the muscular - very male - form in front of him melt and reform into the smaller, well curved - very female - form of the young woman who had walked in earlier. _This can't be happening. It's impossible . . . _ His thoughts were interrupted as Ranma picked up the other glass.

"Hot water." Again the contents were emptied over her head and the process was reversed: height regained, shoulders broadened, feminine curves reshaping into sharply defined, masculine, muscles.

Silence.

The collective blink was almost audible. 

Slowly the disbelief and shock that ran rampant across every face transmuted into varying expressions. _It _is_ happening . . . and since when has anything in your life been normal, anyway? _

Duo seemed almost amused. The soldier's mask had settled firmly into place on Heero's face. A similar look of non-expression covered Trowa's features while Wufei stared, eyes wide. Quatre's eyes were glazed and his jaw slack. 

Duo looked over at the others and grinned while pushing Quatre's jaw back into place, "Hey, Kat, watch the drool, man." Quatre turned to glare at the braided man, as Duo continued, "So, do we need to watch what we drink in this place or is there another explanation?" Duo turned and aimed the smirk at Ran.

Ran relaxed enough to return the smirk. "Nah, the water here is safe enough. Spring of Drowned Girl, in Jusenkyo, China. 'There is tragic legend, very tragic, of young girl who drown in spring 1,500 year ago! Now whoever fall in that spring take on body of young girl.'(2) " His voice was slightly mocking as he quoted some unknown source. "Cold water turns me into a girl; hot water turns me back into a guy."

Wufei finally blinked and forced out a question. "Are you truly female when . . . ?"

Ranma raised an eyebrow. "You wanna check?"

Wufei became even more flustered. Trowa shot him an amused glance and turned to Ran as he changed the subject, apparently accepting the explanation for the time being. "There was another topic that was mentioned that Une felt you should answer the questions about." Trowa's expression was wary as he faced Ranma. 

"And that would be the mention of psychiatric treatment in my file?" Ran asked with a blank expression. At Trowa's nod he continued. "The Nekoken - cats and I don't get along very well."

Duo looked like he was going to ask more, but the half-hidden look of pain in Ran's eyes dissuaded him. "Well, then, let's get to work!"

~~~~~   
(1) Red Foal   
(2) Guide's speech from manga.   
~~~~~


	4. Chapter 2b

Title: Chaos Returned: Chapter 2a   
Author: MJRD   
Rating: PG-13 for now   
Feedback: Please! C&C craved: meghan@zizania.org   
Archive: Eclectic Unlimited:http://zizania.org/meghan   
Fanfiction.net - MJRD   
Disclaimer: I own neither Gundam Wing nor Ranma ½. It is said that imitation is the highest form of flattery; that is the intention of this. No copyright infringement intended.   
~~~~~   
NOTE: This is set in 199 AC, about two years after the events in Endless Waltz. All five of the pilots are working for the Preventers. The Ranma timeline is the same as canon (manga) except for happening in the GW universe: knowledge of the colonies, slightly higher tech level. Genma and Ranma arrived in Nerima in 194 AC. The fight with Saffron occurred shortly after the formation of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation. The GW pilots are about 19 years old, while Ranma is 20. The age difference and passage of time would change behavior patterns somewhat; some characters have matured (I don't think that really counts as OOC)   
~~~~~

Duo woke suddenly, unsure of where he was or what it was that woke him. _Huh, Ran's apartment? Let's see, Ran produced that stack of files. We found that several pharmaceutical companies appeared in connection with many of the cover businesses that the organization had been using. Heero, Wufei, and Trowa decided to see if they could find any more information in the Preventers' database. Kat stayed with Ran and me to look for more stuff. It got late and Ran invited us to stay. So, that's the where - but why am I awake? _

He glanced over at Quatre, who was curled up on his side of the borrowed bed. Quatre whimpered again and Duo realized that was what had woken him in the first place. As he moved to wake his friend, Quatre gasped and sat up straight.

"Whoa, Kat, what's the matter?" Duo asked putting his hand on the blond's shoulder.

Quatre looked at him blankly for a moment, trembling. "I don't know - there was just this overwhelming sense of fear and helplessness."

"Your Space Heart again?"

The blond nodded, bringing his trembling under control. A half-strangled whimper from the direction of Ranma's bedroom attracted both of their attention.

"Well, I think we figured out where it was coming from at least," Duo said as he got up and headed towards the continuing whimpers, Quatre following closely behind.

As they stepped around the screen to enter the bedroom, Ranma let out a sharp cry and sat up in bed. Perceiving two shadows where they should not have been, Ranma rolled off the bed and dropped into a defensive stance.

Duo and Quatre froze at the sudden movement and glanced at each other, then at Ranma again. _Shit, that must have been some dream! I don't think he's really awake yet. _ Ran's eyes glinted strangely, almost cat-like, as Duo took a cautious step forward.

"Hey, man, you okay?"

Ranma blinked, eyes clearing, and dropped the stance, finally recognizing who was there. "Huh?"

Duo and Quatre exchanged another look. "You were calling out in your sleep - sounded like a nightmare."

Ranma's face froze. "It's nothing."

_Yeah right, nothing my ass. I won't push now but he's got to let that out before he cracks - I should know. _ Duo nodded, observing the shocked panic from earlier had faded. He then retreated back to the living area with Quatre and the two lay down to sleep again.

After a moment Duo spoke up quietly, "Hey, Kat, did you see his eyes? Were they really . . . ?"

There was a pause before he heard the confused response. "Yeah, they were. I thought I might have been imagining things."

"Me too." _I almost wish I had been._ Duo thought as he remembered the look of suppressed terror and helplessness combined with self-disgust deep in the other's glowing eyes.


	5. Chapter 3aincomplete

Title: Chaos Returned: Chapter 3a(incomplete)   
Author: MJRD   
Rating: PG-13 for now   
Feedback: Please! C&C craved: meghan@zizania.org   
Archive: Eclectic Unlimited: http://zizania.org/meghan   
Fanfiction.net - MJRD   
Disclaimer: I own neither Gundam Wing nor Ranma ½. It is said that imitation is the highest form of flattery; that is the intention of this. No copyright infringement intended.   
~~~~~   
NOTE: This is set in 199 AC, about two years after the events in Endless Waltz.   
~~~~~

Duo rolled over and buried his face as his internal alarm went off. He grinned into the pillow at Quatre's half muffled groan and plea for coffee. 

The braided boy was looking around the kitchen when Quatre managed to wake up enough to perch on the edge of the bed. 

"Duo, please tell me there is coffee somewhere," the blond requested plaintively. 

"I don't know, Kat. I don't see a coffee maker anywhere." Duo chuckled as his response drew another groan from his teammate. He then noticed a note on the fridge. 

"Will instant do? Ran left a note saying there is some in the freezer." 

Quatre nodded. "I don't care if it's the sludge Wufei normally makes." 

Duo grabbed the instant coffee and a found a couple of mugs then read the rest of the note as he waited for the water to boil. 

Duo, Quatre,   
There is instant coffee in the freezer if you want some.   
There is cereal in the cabinet or you can wait until I come   
back and fix breakfast at about 7:30. Feel free to use the   
shower (just don't use up the hot water). If you need   
anything else I'm across the hall.   
Ranma 

After a quick glance at the clock confirming it to be only a few minutes after 6:30 Duo brought the coffee over to the table where Quatre joined him. 

Waiting just long enough for the other pilot to have jumpstarted his system with the caffeine Duo asked, "Human yet, Kat?" and found himself at the receiving end of a mild glare. 

"Humph." Quatre took another sip of his coffee then blinked. "Where's Ran?" 

Duo grinned at him and gave him the note. "I'm going to take a shower then do you want to head over and see what he is up to? " 

"Sure." Quatre nodded absently as he headed over to the counter to make another cup of coffee. 

Twenty minutes later Duo managed to wrestle his wet hair into a braid again. A much more awake Quatre decided to take his turn at the shower as Duo headed across the hall to see what their host was doing. 


End file.
